DailyDirt: Prosthetic Limbs -- Getting Better All The Time

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

One of the most inspiring examples of a person using prosthetic limbs is Oscar Pistorius (aka the "Blade Runner") -- who will be the first leg amputee to compete with carbon fiber feet at the London Olympics. Pistorius was previously disqualified from the 2008 Olympics, but he'll be allowed to compete this year, potentially paving the way for other athletes to move over from the Paralympics. Here are just a few technological advances for artificial limbs that could create some cyborg-olympic athletes.

Re: I'm wondering when they will start testing adding extra limbs.

There have already been people born with extra fingers and toes, and even some really rare ones with extra legs and lower body parts through dipygus conjoinment--like conjoined twins, except since the division is below rather than above, there is only a single brain and nervous system connected to the extra parts.

I donít recall any fMRI or such scans ever being done on such individuals, to try to find out how things are wired. The brain may turn out to be more flexible than we can imagine.

Brain-computer interfaces are improving quite a bit, and one patient named S3 has 96 hair-sized electrodes implanted in her brain that can control a robotic arm well enough to lift a glass for a drink.

And it probably only costs around $2,000,000. At that price, every paralyzed patient can get one!